


Where We Land

by so_real



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Hate to Love, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, they're contemporary dancers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23597344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/so_real/pseuds/so_real
Summary: 'Seonghwa won't lie, he kind of hated Kim Hongjoong in the beginning.'ORThe one where they're contemporary dancers and they hate each other, but not really
Relationships: Kim Hongjoong/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 6
Kudos: 122





	Where We Land

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sharkhwa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharkhwa/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANIA ILU
> 
> title from the song by the same title by Ed Sheeran

When Seonghwa first met Kim Hongjoong he thought he was an overachiever, fake ray of sunshine. 

There was no way someone could manage to stay that hyper all the time and get on all the teachers' good sides like that. He made Seonghwa's skin crawl every time he would smile that million Watt smile of his, nod sheepishly when he was being corrected, make a show out of how much harder than everyone else he was working.

Seonghwa won't lie, he kind of hated Kim Hongjoong in the beginning. 

Which was ideal, because for some reason, perfect, hard-working, brilliant genius (not his adjectives, just the ones he'd heard thrown in Hongjoong's direction before) Hongjoong seemed to hate Seonghwa just as much as Seonghwa hated him. 

Their conversations were short, but always scathing, both trying to get as many concealed animosity as they could into every fake compliment they gave each other. It sounds crass to admit it, but Seonghwa ended up deriving a sort of twisted enjoyment out of trying to get a rise out of Hongjoong. Every time he managed to crack the other's cheery facade made him thrill with a dark satisfaction that he would have been ashamed of in any other circumstance.

That was before, though.

Before Eden caught up on their little feud and decided that the best way to have it resolved was to assign them a project together. 

"You're my two best students," he'd said. "Give me something we can work with on the studio, and maybe you'll earn yourselves an internship."

Now, Seonghwa hadn't wanted to work with Hongjoong at all, but he had been eager for that internship.

And that's how he landed here, the clock on his phone telling him it's past two in the morning as he lays on the floor of one of the private practice rooms of the academy and watches Hongjoong run over the last bit of the choreography they've been working on for the past month.

"Why do you keep trying? You got it already," Seonghwa tells Hongjoong's reflection in the mirror. Hongjoong loses focus and trips on a step, stopping abruptly. Seonghwa before would have smiled at the fact that he'd gotten Hongjoong to misstep, but Seonghwa now can only notice the tight set of Hongjoong's jaw, the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands clench into fists as he looks up to the ceiling, almost like he's trying not to cry.

"Do you always have to boycott everything?" he asks, and his voice comes out hoarse when he does. Seonghwa pushes himself up, alarmed.

"I wasn't trying to distract you, I'm sorry," Seonghwa before would rather die than apologize to Hongjoong, but Seonghwa now has seen enough facets to him to know that his prejudices were unfounded, and well, just that:  _ prejudices _ . Hongjoong is every ounce as brilliant and hard-working and perfect as their teachers are always claiming, and then some. Seonghwa realizes now that his hatred was misplaced envy. An envy that he now has learned to redirect into admiration.

"You know, I'm not made of stone," Hongjoong says, and when Seonghwa looks at him, his shoulders are shaking, and there's tears silently falling down his cheeks. 

"I never thought you were," Seonghwa replies, slowly, unsure of what to do. His mind is screaming at him to get up, comfort Hongjoong, do  _ something _ , but he's not sure Hongjoong would allow it.

"Then why do you keep trying to break me?" Hongjoong demands, his nails digging into his palms so hard Seonghwa thinks it must hurt. "Why do you keep doing everything you can to stop me from working when it's clear I'm nowhere near being perfect?"

His chest heaves, and his body shakes, and his voice comes out strained, and it takes Seonghwa a second to realize Hongjoong is having a breakdown. 

He scrambles to his feet, throwing caution to the wind as he hurries to Hongjoong, hands coming to wipe his tears away. Hongjoong tries to fight him off but Seonghwa doesn't let him, grabbing him by the shoulders and trying to hold his gaze.

"Hey, hey, Hongjoong, look at me, you need to breathe," he tells him, urgently but gently. He grabs one of Hongjoong's hands and places it on his own chest, hoping Hongjoong doesn't question the way his heart is beating in staccato. "Breathe with me, come on."

Hongjoong's scared eyes bear into his as he tries to get his breathing back under control, more tears streaming down his face as he slowly stops hyperventilating and manages to take a full breath without it shaking.

"That's it," Seonghwa tells him softly, reaching up to push Hongjoong's bangs away from his flustered face. "Keep going, you're doing great, just like that, Hongjoongie, you got this."

Another wave of tears flood Hongjoong's eyes, but he manages to keep breathing even as his knees give out and he falls to the floor, Seonghwa coming down with him. They kneel there, Hongjoong crying and Seonghwa on the brink of tears also, as Seonghwa keeps petting through Hongjoong's hair and whispering gentle comforting words to him.

"Why are you like this?" Hongjoong asks after a while, and his voice sounds so desperate something in Seonghwa gives way.

"I don't know either," he tells him, truthfully. His hands move to Hongjoong's cheeks and they wipe away the dampness there. He would have never thought he'd find himself in a situation like this, but now that he is in it, he's not sure he wants out. There's something as healing as it is heartbreaking to see Hongjoong so open and vulnerable like this. "I guess I was just jealous of you for always being so bright and perfect."

Hongjoong scoffs. "I'm not perfect, I'm never able to get things right as fast as you do."

Seonghwa blinks in confusion, taken aback by the strange compliment. "Maybe… maybe not, but you are passionate and hard-working, and don't let anything, least of all me, get in the way of what you want."

"How do you know what I want?" Hongjoong asks, his voice a hoarse whisper. Seonghwa freezes.

"I- I don't," he admits. "I don't know a lot of things about you."

Which is ironic in itself if he takes into account the fact that he is here, his hands cradling Hongjoong's face as Hongjoong looks at him with sad, desperate, wet eyes. And the fact that Seonghwa looks into those eyes and all he wants to do is ease away the pain in them, become someone who Hongjoong can rely on, instead of someone Hongjoong has to fight.

"You don't," Hongjoong says. "So why do you keep pushing?"

Seonghwa's heart trips in his chest. 

"Because it's the only way I know to get your attention," he confesses, and feels his cheeks burn up.

Hongjoong's eyes grow wide. "What does that mean?"

"I- I think at first I was too jealous of you to properly see beyond that," Seonghwa explains, not meeting Hongjoong's eyes. His hands fall away from Hongjoong's face, but Hongjoong catches one of them in between his, holding it loosely. "But now that we've spent more time together, and I've gotten to see you, to  _ really  _ see you… you really are as bright as they all say, Hongjoong. You might not think you're perfect, but it looks pretty damn close to it to me."

He risks a glance up at Hongjoong, and he finds him staring at Seonghwa with a complicated expression, something that mixes shock, denial, and something a little brighter, something that looks a bit like hope.

"You said you didn't know what I wanted," Hongjoong says, and Seonghwa shakes his head, slightly confused. The hands around his tighten. "Ask me."

"What?" Seonghwa isn't following, too lost in the way Hongjoong's eyes shine.

"Ask me what I want, Seonghwa," he demands. His eyes hold Seonghwa in place more than the hands holding his do.

"What do you want?" Seonghwa asks, his heart beating in double time. Hongjoong brings their hands to his heart.

"You."

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: [Ania](https://twitter.com/thewintersobber>me</a>,%20<a%20href=) and [me](https://twitter.com/thewintersobber)


End file.
